Generally, as shown in FIG. 1, a video color printer has a printing part which includes a thermal recording head 1 with a heat radiating medium formed on the bottom thereof, a ribbon cassette 2 with ink ribbons 2a for Y (Yellow), M (Magenta) and C (Cyan) wound thereon, a drum 3 for guiding and printing a thermal recording paper, a tray 4 for holding sheets of recording paper, a paper feed roller 5 for feeding sheets of recording paper from the tray 4 to the printing part, and a paper discharge roller 6 for discharging the sheets of recording paper to an ejecting part 7 when the recording papers are printed.
In the video color printer as described above, the paper feed roller 5 is rotated by a driving motor for feeding the sheets of recording paper from the tray 4 to the printing part.
If video signals of a color picture and the like are transferred to the thermal recording head 1, the three colors of the ink ribbons 2a are successively printed on the recording paper by the heat radiating medium installed on the bottom thereof so that a desired picture can be printed on a sheet of recording paper wound on the drum 3.
When printing is finished, the recording paper is transmitted through the discharge roller 6 to the ejecting part 7 and the ejecting part 7 advances forward by the driving motor so as to allow removal of the printed paper manually, thereby completing the printing operation.
In the conventional video color printer as described above, if the recording papers stacked on the tray 4 are exhausted, the tray 4 must be completely removed to supply new sheets of recording paper and re-installed on the body of the printer after supplying the paper manually. Furthermore, existence or absence of the recording paper has to be checked manually. Accordingly, loading paper in such a device is inefficient and inconvenient.